I often anguish about the power that the mainstream media has in this country to defend the Deceiver In Chief Obama and promote the liberal agenda that is taking this country on a greased path to ruin. What in the world can we do about it?? I always come back to 'cut off their advertisers', but how realistic is that? What is your opinion?

I guess if it makes you feel good, do it. You’ll hear all sorts of people telling you they don’t watch this program or that program they think is biased. Sure, fine but that didn’t really change anything beyond making one person feel good. If serious, you should take the time to write letters to advertisers, local papers, blogs and websites that are read by more people than a self-selected cheering audience of people who think just like you do. Engage in debate and be intellectually honest.

We quit getting the Austin paper a long time ago. They have called many times to restart our subscription and I tell them to “fly a kite” or something similar. We watch little TV, other than local news.

11 posted on 01/25/2012 5:38:30 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
(Dear God, thanks for the rain, but please let it rain more in Texas. Amen.)

Media outlets will continue pushing their agendas as long as they have $1 left to do it with. As has been stated here, their circulation/ratings is what attracts a potential advertiser. The poorer the circ, the less they can charge or the fewer advertisers they can attract.

The paper I worked at, once containing several sections and 30+ pages, now has about 10ish on a given day. This was the result of two things. Insane ad rates driving advertisers away and to the net where they got a better return for their ad dollar, and people sick to death of the BS we printed. People got sick of puff piece/psuedojournalism and simply stopped buying the paper.

Management however blamed everything but themselves and their agenda, poor editorial policies and decisions. NEVER expect a media outlet to do anything different than they do now. They are filled with old-school ideas that no longer work in the internet age. And their politics is only a portion of their problem.

Advertisers only respond to boycotts temporarily since the pressure is invariably temporary. Once the smoke clears, they are right back to placing their ad dollars where it makes business sense to do so. Remove the financial incentive for them to advertize at a propaganda outlet and all but the most agenda-driven of ad buyers will take their business elsewhere.

I don’t even have a TV connection at home, broadcast or cable. I do have a large screen TV connected to a PS3/BluRay player that I watch on occasion. As far as I am concerned, TV is all junk as are most Hollywood movies. The internet is where I (selectively) get all the content I want.

Yes. Massive focused boycotts can work. Even the threat of them works for the light-footed brigade and the race pimps.

But it will have to be a well organized, 501(c)(3) nonprofit with full-time employees and a popular message.

It could start here on Free Republic.

You can take the pledge to never purchase a product from a CBS news advertiser for the rest of your life. That message packs a wallop.

Then you could have a web site...say, iPledge.org, where people can check on the news/progress of the organization, download pledges for their families and sign up to take the pledge to boycott the advertisers. National databases could be developed for pledge petitions that could be shared with specific advertisers for specific offenses.

There could be iPledge.org billboards and internet advertising. There are a lot of people who put their money where their mouth is.

I can only particite myself...by not watching, not buying. I don’t watch the networks, get most of my news from the internet (FreeRepublic is TOPS). I don’t go to the movies (the hell with Hollywood) and I don’t bank at any of th big banks. I boycott GE and GM. It may only be a drop in the bucket..but I vote with my wallet. At least it makes me feel a bit better.

Oh yeah, I use BING not Google.

18 posted on 01/25/2012 6:10:55 AM PST by SueRae
(I can see November from my HOUSE!!!!!!!! 11.06.2012, the Tower of Sauron falls,)

The best solution is not boycotts, but to go direct to the source. This is to encourage Republicans to extend the antitrust act to the dozen or so media oligopolies.

Big media have consolidated control over almost all mass media, TV, radio, movies, newspapers, books, magazines, and big parts of the Internet.

Most recently they demonstrated their power by blatantly bribing congress to pass SOPA and PIPA, with the even more onerous ACTA on the horizon, a treaty that only needs a corrupt US senate to cause ruination to the Internet.

This is the final straw. Big media must be broken up. They are the ones behind this mess.

And only when they are broken up will consumers again be able to persuade the media to behave with the threat of boycotts.

One thing we need to do is keep getting the facts out there. Some people will never let facts sway them. In other cases, repeat the facts often enough, and they might start to believe them. (That's the tactic liberals use with their lies, so why not co-opt it for truth?)

22 posted on 01/25/2012 7:43:53 AM PST by MEGoody
(Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)